Elevated floor assemblies, also called full access floor assemblies, comprising a raised floor supported a spaced distance above a permanent or otherwise supporting subfloor, are in general use in contemporary buildings, particularly in areas used for housing computers and computer-related systems. Computers, printers, and other peripherals, etc., are typically interconnected by cables, pipes, air ducts, and the like for the purpose of powering and coordinating the various units and maintaining each unit at its required operating temperature. The elevated floor assembly enables these interconnections to be routed and channeled in the space defined by the raised floor and the supporting subfloor below.
The standard elevated floor structure consists of floor panels, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,795, which are supported above a subfloor, generally by a plurality of pedestals, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,558,544 and 3,398,933.
A significant problem associated with prior elevated floor systems is that the interconnections of wires, cables, pipes, etc., referred to above become increasingly crowded and increasingly tangled as more systems, peripherals, etc., are added to the system. A mild example of this problem can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,357, showing several crossing lines below the elevated floor structure depicted therein.
Another related problem with prior systems is that they provide no method for segregating wiring which should be segregated, such as high and low voltage wiring. Systems such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,316,680, which shows a single trough fastened to the tops of pedestals, would be unable to effectively solve the segregation problem, and would thus be of limited use in present-day applications.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have an elevated floor system that addressed the problems of tangled lines and the need for segregation in the space between the elevated floor and the supporting subfloor.